Not all 300-series motherboard will ship from retailers with a Raven Ridge compliant BIOS

AMD's AM4 platform is designed to last for several CPU generations, facilitating user upgrades over time as AMD releases increasingly powerful processors onto the market.

With the release of Raven Ridge comes the first of these upgrades, offering increased performance and value for money than their previous Generation counterparts (Full Review for Raven Ridge here). The only real problem with Raven Ridge is the fact that not all AM4 motherboards will ship with a compatible BIOS, as Raven Ridge support is only a recent addition to motherboard BIOS files.

AMD is aware of this issues that this will cause for new Ryzen buyers, as some people will undoubtedly purchase a motherboard with our Raven Ridge support and then run into boot-up problems. The help address these issues, AMD has created a guide which will let users of second-generation Ryzen processor know how to deal with these issues, whether it is through an RMA, the use of a friends CPU or using an AMD supplied "boot kit solution".

In February 2018, AMD began introduction of the new 2nd Gen Ryzen™ Desktop Processor with Radeon™ Vega Graphics. To enable support for this new processor, an updated BIOS is required. Due to the rapid pace of innovation, and strong demand for Ryzen Processors with Radeon Graphics, it may be possible that some users with an AMD Socket AM4 motherboard paired with a 2nd Generation Ryzen Desktop introduced in 2018, may experience an issue where the system does not boot up during initial setup.

The boot up issue likely means a system is running an early BIOS that does not have support for newer processors. This can be resolved by updating the motherboard BIOS to the latest version, which can be performed by using any processor supported with the currently installed BIOS. For a list of supported processors per BIOS version, please refer to the CPU Support List document available on the motherboard manufacturer's website. BIOS download and installation instructions are also found on their websites.

BIOS updates are a big deal for AMD's AM4 platform, not only providing support for new CPU models but also to offer performance optimisations and other beneficial tweaks. You can see the effects of some of AMD's AM4 BIOS updates in our Ryzen Retest article, which compares our day-1 Ryzen performance with the performance of later BIOS revisions.

Below are several potential methods that Ryzen buyers can use to update their AM4 motherboards with a compatible BIOS file. At this time it is unknown what AMD defines as a "qualified user" when shipping a "boot kit solution" for BIOS updates.

Workarounds

The following workarounds may be feasible for affected users, depending on their individual circumstances, and should be considered before applying the boot kit solution detailed below:

Update from Retailer

- If the motherboard was purchased through a computer parts retailer, check with the retailer to see if they can facilitate the BIOS update at their location. There may be a charge for this, or it may be offered at no cost.

- If you have access to a processor supported on the current installed BIOS, use it to perform the BIOS update, then swap out the processors when the update process is complete.

(For a list of supported processors per BIOS version, please refer to the CPU Support List document available on the motherboard manufacturer's website. BIOS download and installation instructions are also found on their website.)

If these workarounds are not feasible, please see the sections below for a solution.

Original Manufacturer Replacement

The Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) of the motherboard will support affected end users with an RMA exchange for a compatible motherboard, upon request. Affected end users are recommended to contact their local representative for the motherboard manufacturer to exchange their motherboard.

Boot Kit Solution

AMD will provide affected and qualified users a boot kit to perform the BIOS update on their motherboard.

This solution is offered through AMD warranty services and is available only for affected and qualified users of this specific boot up issue. This boot kit is fee of charge.

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